Disclamer: I haven’t slept in over a day and idk if what I write makes any sense, I will adjust it after I wake up. Sometimes I do dumb stuff and end up not sleeping, other times there simply isn’t time to sleep/rest as needed(assignments and lack of planning ahead). Any advice on how to stay awake for longer periods of time(preferably functional/not in a zombie state, I’m looking for 1 and half day of not sleeping max) and your favourite way of recovering from these sleepless stretches of time(other than sleeping of course).
Edit: thank you for your replies, I woke up a few hours ago feeling better. I am going to try to properly recover today. If you have any sleep deprivation recovery tips, please let me know and remember to hydrate.
Your plan is stupid. Especially if you are young you should sleep a minimum of 7 hours per day. Adapt your schedule and fix your priorities but the solution is not to sleep less. Otherwise: cocaine probably.
Thank you for your advice. I don’t plan on sleeping less. I don’t desire to sleep less, quite the contrary. I know the obvious solution is to plan, however sometimes it gets out of hand. I don’t see lack of sleep as a solution or a fix, I’m well aware of that. I’m talking about times when sleeping/proper rest isn’t achievable. Also cocaine costs money, impending doom and feelings of inadequacy are free and so potent.
I agree with AnagrammadiCodeina that postponing sleep is not advisable. It causes more problems in the long run than it is worth. However if you insist that it is needed to reach deadlines, things that keep you awake are caffeinated foods and beverages like coffee, green/black tea, and energy drinks. Or foods high in sugar, like candy and chocolate.
I know what you mean, shit happens.
Stay well hydrated, stay well fed - eat proper food as you would during daytime. So what every 6 hours?
Get some fresh air and move about regularly to keep your blood pumping and mind alert.
Don’t rely on caffeine too much, its a crutch that will swing back after a while.
Sacrificing sleep time will affect your cognitive performance and increase risk for a lot of diseases. “There simply isn’t time” is usually an excuse used when you have poor time management skills, you can try an exercise of writing down what activity you have done each hour segment. This will allow you to be mindful on which activities are wasting your time.
Polyphasic sleep schedules are also not recommended, Huberman has a good episode on sleep w/ Matthew Walker: https://youtu.be/gbQFSMayJxk
Not that I’d recommend doing this, but back when I was younger, I had the not so bright idea that I could go to work come home, game the whole night, then go back to work. It was a terrible idea in hindsight, but I used to it a lot. To achieve this, I used to mix energy drinks and pre-workout to stay awake, and I’d drink it as though I was drinking water, so I ended up drinking a butt load. I just want to stress again though that I’d never recommend actually doing this though unless as a last resort, but even then I’d caution away from it. I get there are times when one feels they absolutely must stay awake, God knows the amount of times I accidentally slept through something, and ruined relationships, but as others have said planning is probably the issue you’re facing.
Fix lack of planning first, don’t sacrifice your sleep time.
Here we go again. 3 day no sleep challenge
Nope. There is no reward for sleep deprivation, only pain. At the time of writing the post I was awake for almost 36 hours. I slept a lot after that, waking up dealing with the consequenses, still recovering. I don’t even want to think about 3 days. Sleep is bliss.
relevant XKCD “28 hour day” https://xkcd.com/320/
I did this years ago and it worked for me as long as nobody with a 24 hours cycle was part of my private life.
Sleep deprivation will cause your body to rot. Wounds heal slower and you are more susceptible to illness, your brain function is muted and you will loose hair.
Chemicals that keep you awake are only borrowed time which your body will claim back by just switching you off after enough non-stop-action.
I used to be like you. Young and wild, being a night owl living in a world ruled by daywalkers.
Nowadays, I tend to value even an hour of sleep over staying up the whole night. You always feel better after sleep and even a little bit is better than none.
For staying up, I recommend coffee or chocolate-covered espresso beans (very easy to over-do it on these).
For waking up after only a short amount of sleep, set multiple alarms about 3-5 mins apart for about 45 mins. If you use your phone as an alarm, put your phone in an empty coffee mug to help amplify the sounds and vibrations of the alarm. There’s no guilt worse than over-sleeping when someone is relying on you.
Ehhh for staying up caffeine is hit or miss.
Once it wears off you crash hard.
For me focusing hard on whatever task broken up by movement and fresh air was the key when i did it more. Cold shower as a last resort :'D
When I was studying a lot, I would just slowly eat saltine crackers. Most adults can’t fall asleep while eating.
I had a very intense year of school one year and I gained some weight because of this method. Everything has a consequence.
If you’re going to go without sleep, try a power nap here or there to help.
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I suggest you take a look at the the book “Why we Sleep”. Like it or not, there are many reasons we need to sleep, and keeping yourself up has long-term effects on your health.
As a doctor**, I have some thoughts about this.
If you are a student - sleeping less is a terrible idea. You won’t learn well and performance will suffer. Setting a good schedule - which for me was all about starting in the morning and having a clear finishing time every day - can get you into a groove and have long term payoff. Also remember the perfect is the enemy of the good - don’t keep killing yourself when you are at where you need to be. That being said my academic experience was more about taking tests than writing projects, so it’s possible my advice won’t apply.
If you have to stay up, acting like it’s daytime helps. Bright light keeps my body thinking it’s still daytime. A shower sets me to felling like it’s morning again. People around me who are also awake and active helps.
** not a sleep expert, just someone who’s had to work a lot of nights and 36 hours work shifts
The tip should be to not do this.
After a certain amount of time, you’re not going to be retaining much of that information anyway.
Check out nootropics on reddit. Be careful.
Meth
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